Poll: Be honest, who else cheats at playing Little Wing?

How much thumb over do you use?

  • As much as Hendrix, that's the law!

    Votes: 15 51.7%
  • Some, we all cheat a little.

    Votes: 5 17.2%
  • Every man for themselves, absolutely none.

    Votes: 9 31.0%

  • Total voters
    29

Handsome McClane

Senior Stratmaster
Silver Member
Sep 6, 2020
2,849
Sacramento
If you play Hendrix or Jeff Beck note-for-note I'll be impressed, but I will be appreciating Hendrix or Beck's artistry, not yours.

In my current set I do instrumental pieces by Satriani, Beck, Santana, and Gary Moore. I learned them note-for-note initially, but I stopped listening to the originals a long time ago. Now if I happen to hear one of the original recordings I'll trip out at the way my versions have deviated over time. I like that.
 

92 Fiesta Red 62

Senior Stratmaster
Apr 27, 2022
1,733
TEXAS
Actual conversation between me and a former guitarist in my band, regarding my “incorrect” way of playing the B chord:

He: “You’re playing that chord wrong.”
Me: “Yeah, I know…but it’s ok, let’s play the song.”
He: “But…it’s not right…you’re not fingering it right…”
Me: “It sounds the same, so let’s play the song.”
He: “But it isn’t the same.”
Me: “It’s ok, I got permission from the guy who wrote the song.” (I wrote the song in question).
He: “But…it just isn’t right…”
Me: “Close your eyes…” (I play the chord properly, then my ‘cheater’ way)
Me: “Which one was which? I played it correctly one of those two times.”
He: “Um, I couldn’t tell…do it again.”
Me: “No, because you couldn’t tell…so let’s play the song.”
He: “But you’re playing it wrong…”
Me: “Ok, buddy…you’re gonna sit this one out…everybody else, on three…one, two, one-two-three…”

I fired him two weeks later, after we had almost the exact same conversation again.

Shut up and play whatever sounds good.
 

Slacker G

Senior Stratmaster
May 16, 2021
2,213
Iowa
I have it on my mp3 player and I can vouch that Hendricks plays it the very same way every time.
 

NobodyReally

Senior Stratmaster
Oct 22, 2022
1,244
Sikeston MO
If you play Hendrix or Jeff Beck note-for-note I'll be impressed, but I will be appreciating Hendrix or Beck's artistry, not yours.

In my current set I do instrumental pieces by Satriani, Beck, Santana, and Gary Moore. I learned them note-for-note initially, but I stopped listening to the originals a long time ago. Now if I happen to hear one of the original recordings I'll trip out at the way my versions have deviated over time. I like that.
That is the absolute essence of ART...
 

dogletnoir

V----V
Nov 1, 2013
15,206
northeastern us
Actual conversation between me and a former guitarist in my band, regarding my “incorrect” way of playing the B chord:

He: “You’re playing that chord wrong.”
Me: “Yeah, I know…but it’s ok, let’s play the song.”
He: “But…it’s not right…you’re not fingering it right…”
Me: “It sounds the same, so let’s play the song.”
He: “But it isn’t the same.”
Me: “It’s ok, I got permission from the guy who wrote the song.” (I wrote the song in question).
He: “But…it just isn’t right…”
Me: “Close your eyes…” (I play the chord properly, then my ‘cheater’ way)
Me: “Which one was which? I played it correctly one of those two times.”
He: “Um, I couldn’t tell…do it again.”
Me: “No, because you couldn’t tell…so let’s play the song.”
He: “But you’re playing it wrong…”
Me: “Ok, buddy…you’re gonna sit this one out…everybody else, on three…one, two, one-two-three…”

I fired him two weeks later, after we had almost the exact same conversation again.

Shut up and play whatever sounds good.
That reminds me of this (from Idris Shah's 'Tales of The Dervishes'):
The Man Who Walked On Water
A CONVENTIONALLY-MINDED dervish, from an austerely pious school, was walking one day along a river bank.
He was absorbed in concentration upon moralistic and scholastic problems, for this was the form which Sufi teaching
had taken in the community to which he belonged. He equated emotional religion with the search for ultimate Truth.
Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a loud shout: someone was repeating the dervish call.
'There is no point in that,' he said to himself, 'because the man is mispronouncing the syllables.
Instead of intoning YA HU, he is saying U YA HU.'
Then he realized that he had a duty, as a more careful student, to correct this unfortunate person,
who might have had no opportunity of being rightly guided, and was therefore probably only doing his best
to attune himself with the idea behind the sounds.
So he hired a boat and made his way to the island in midstream from which the sound appeared to come.
Sitting in a reed hut he found a man, dressed in a dervish robe, moving in time to his own repetition of the initiatory phrase.
'My friend,' said the first dervish, 'you are mispronouncing the phrase.
It is incumbent upon me to tell you this, because there is merit for him who gives and him who takes advice.
This is the way in which you speak it.'
And he told him.
'Thank you,' said the other dervish humbly.
The first dervish entered his boat again, full of satisfaction at having done a good deed.
After all, it was said that a man who could repeat the sacred formula correctly could even walk upon the waves:
something that he had never seen, but always hoped—for some reason—to be able to achieve.
Now he could hear nothing from the reed hut, but he was sure that his lesson had been well taken.
Then he heard a faltering U YA as the second dervish started to repeat the phrase in his old way ...
While the first dervish was thinking about this, reflecting upon the perversity of humanity and its persistence in error,
he suddenly saw a strange sight. From the island the other dervish was coming towards him, walking on the surface of the water ...
Amazed, he stopped rowing.
The second dervish walked up to him and said: 'Brother, I am sorry to trouble you, but I have to come out to ask you again
the standard method of making the repetition you were telling me, because I find it difficult to remember it.'

😅
 

Guithartic

Senior Stratmaster
Jan 10, 2021
3,668
Jacksonville, FL
When I play Wind Cries Mary, I really can hear a difference in my thumb-over version compared to standard. I’m hoping to learn Little Wing and try the thumb-over way if that’s the law.
 

muttonbuster

Senior Stratmaster
Nov 14, 2020
1,547
República de Cantaloupia
I never learned this one but I “cheat” all the time when learning songs. Doing that used to irk me quite a bit but these days I want to get from A to B with as little stress as possible. More often than not, no one but myself would be able to tell that I’m not playing exactly as the artist did. Even if they could, I can fall back on the old trope that I’m putting my own spin on it. 😉
That was my issue, and I had to shut it down quick. It started as OK, let's use the thumb over some....which quickly transitioned into wasting an hour trying to go from a G to an F shape while keeping the thumb fretted and ringing the whole time, and clearly it's just my hands aren't big enough to do that anything close to seamlessly. So I just thought, OK, I'll take the other extreme so I'm not even tempted, and went with no thumb over.

I realize Hendrix never played it the same way twice, but the Axis version is great exercise in picking accuracy at hitting adjacent strings with just the right amount of subtlety.
 

tap4154

Strat-Talker
Jan 20, 2014
340
Southern California
I just looked back on my YouTube page and found that I posted a video of my version 12 years ago. Even though I play thumb over all the time, I don't think I committed that offense in this one 😁

(except on G chord)



Here's my Wind Cries Mary from the same time. Lots of thumb over offenses.

 
Last edited:

stratocarlster

Most Honored Senior Member
Jan 6, 2012
9,996
Telephone Road
Actual conversation between me and a former guitarist in my band, regarding my “incorrect” way of playing the B chord:

He: “You’re playing that chord wrong.”
Me: “Yeah, I know…but it’s ok, let’s play the song.”
He: “But…it’s not right…you’re not fingering it right…”
Me: “It sounds the same, so let’s play the song.”
He: “But it isn’t the same.”
Me: “It’s ok, I got permission from the guy who wrote the song.” (I wrote the song in question).
He: “But…it just isn’t right…”
Me: “Close your eyes…” (I play the chord properly, then my ‘cheater’ way)
Me: “Which one was which? I played it correctly one of those two times.”
He: “Um, I couldn’t tell…do it again.”
Me: “No, because you couldn’t tell…so let’s play the song.”
He: “But you’re playing it wrong…”
Me: “Ok, buddy…you’re gonna sit this one out…everybody else, on three…one, two, one-two-three…”

I fired him two weeks later, after we had almost the exact same conversation again.

Shut up and play whatever sounds good.
Now we're all dying to know how you play the B chord.
 
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